IDW COMICS: Transformers 4 Age of Extinction
IDW Comics in the Media Transformers: Age of Extinction is an upcoming 2014 American science fiction action film based on the Transformers franchise. It is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series and stars Mark Wahlberg in the lead role. A sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film takes place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Like its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay is written by Ehren Kruger, who served as screenwriter since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This is the first film in the series to feature an entirely new cast of human characters and the first to feature the Dinobots. Returning Transformers include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Brains. The film is set for release on June 27, 2014, in IMAX and 3D. TRAILER: PLOT: The movie starts off with a spaceship entering the Earth at the time of the Cretaceous and leading the extinction of dinosaurs. Five years have passed since the final battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons left Chicago in ruins and claimed the lives of over a thousand civilians. The U.S. government has severed its ties with the Autobots and branded them as fugitives. An elite CIA unit called "Cemetery Wind" is formed by Harold Attinger with the intent of hunting down and exterminating the surviving Autobots with the aid of Lockdown, a Transformer bounty hunter. Meanwhile, using data obtained from destroyed Transformers, business tycoon Joshua Joyce and his technology firm Kinetic Solutions Incorporated (KSI) have discovered "Transformium", the molecularly unstable metal that is the lifeblood of Transformers. Joshua's prized creation is Galvatron, a Transformer created from the data inside Megatron's severed head under the supervision of a captured Brains. In rural Texas, struggling robotics inventor Cade Yeager and his friend Lucas Flannery purchase an old semi-truck in hopes of stripping it down and selling the parts to get Cade's daughter Tessa into college. Cade discovers that the truck is an injured Optimus Prime, and it is not long before Lockdown and Cemetary Wind operatives led by James Savoy storm into the Yeagers' farm and threaten them. Optimus comes out of hiding to fend off against the operatives while Cade, Tessa, and Lucas are rescued by Tessa's boyfriend Shane Dyson, an Irish rally racer. They lose the operatives in a lengthy chase in Paris, Texas, but Lucas is killed by Lockdown's grenade during their escape. Using a drone he took during the raid, Cade discovers that the operatives and KSI are working together. Optimus rallies the remaining Autobots – Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs – and travel with their new human allies to infiltrate KSI's headquarters in Chicago. There, Cade, Shane, and Bumblebee discover the firm's reverse engineering of Transformer technology. Upon discovering that Ratchet has been slain and his head is being melted down, Optimus and the Autobots storm into the headquarters to destroy the laboratory and rescue Brains, but Joshua convinces them that their actions are futile and they are no longer relevant to this planet. As the Autobots leave the premises, Joshua launches KSI's prototype Transformers Galvatron and Stinger. Optimus and Galvatron engage in a grueling battle where Optimus realizes that Galvatron is Megatron in a new body. Suddenly, Optimus is blasted from behind by Lockdown, and in the midst of the chaos, he and Tessa are captured and taken into Lockdown's ship. Aboard the ship, Lockdown explains to Optimus that the Transformers were created by a mysterious alien race known as the "Creators", which hired him to capture the Autobot leader. As a reward for Optimus' capture, Attinger's operatives are given the "Seed", a bomb that cyberforms any wide area of land if it explodes. Cade, Shane and the Autobots storm into the ship to rescue Optimus and Tessa; while Bumblebee, Crosshairs, and the humans escape and crash into downtown Chicago, the other Autobots detach the rear section of the ship before it leaves into space. Joshua and his business partners Su Yueming and Darcy Tyril retreat to Beijing, where Attinger hands Joshua the Seed in exchange for a stake in KSI control. The Autobots and their human allies follow them to prevent them from detonating the Seed. At KSI's Beijing factory, Galvatron suddenly activates by himself and infects all 50 of the firm's prototype Transformer soldiers to do his bidding. Realizing the folly of his creations, Joshua betrays Attinger before he, Su, and Darcy take the Seed to Hong Kong. There, the Autobots struggle to protect Joshua and the Seed from Galvatron and his minions, which shoot down the Autobots' ship. Cade kills Savoy during a fight in an apartment building. Outnumbered and outmatched, Optimus Prime releases a group of legendary knights and leads them back to the city to destroy Galvatron's army. Lockdown returns to Earth and uses his ship's magnetic weapon to pull anything metal into his ship, in an effort to recapture Optimus. Optimus destroys the weapon and engages in battle with Lockdown before killing Attinger to save Cade. Lockdown grabs Optimus's sword and impales him, but the combined efforts of Bumblebee, Cade, Tessa, and Shane distract the bounty hunter before Optimus stabs him in the chest and slices his head in half. Galvatron retreats, vowing to battle Optimus another day. With Lockdown destroyed and Cemetery Wind dissolved, Optimus sets the Dinobots free before flying into space with the Seed, sending a message to the Creators. CAST: Sideswipe MONITOR'S NOTES: Easter Eggs * Remember Chicago billboard: The “Remember Chicago” billboard is one of the few passing acknowledgments of the previous movie, Dark of the Moon. That hotline number, ostensibly to allow citizens to report suspicious alien cybernetic activity, really works. * When you wish: Early on, while we’re down on the farm with Mark Wahlberg, there’s a picturesque wide shot of the darkening sky. Suddenly, in the upper right quadrant there’s a shooting star straight out of the Steven Spielberg playbook. Why the hat-tip to the master? Spielberg is an executive producer of the Transformers franchise. * Robot in (deep) disguise: When we first see Optimus Prime he’s taken the form of a rusted-out wreck. The flat-fronted “cab-over” truck is a nod to the original Freightliner design of Optimus from the 1980s toys and cartoons. Bay took a lot of fanboy heat when he revamped Prime for the movie series and this looks like his way of poking the critics. Optimus eventually reverts to a streamlined Daimler tractor. * Flexing some muscle: Meanwhile, fan-favorite Bumblebee is hiding out in the guise of a modified 1967 Camaro SS before upgrading to a 2014 model. * Michael Bay, the Brony: While showing off the elastic property of the “transformium” element that gives the robots their shape-shifting ability (yes, it’s really called transformium), a goofy lab tech (James Bachman) turns the blob into a series of different objects, including various weapons and, briefly, the My Little Pony character Rainbow Dash. * That guy with the guitar: During the climactic battle, the camera lingers on a dude with a guitar in a convertible full of women. The camera lingers in a way that makes you feel like Guitar Guy is important, but chances are most U.S. moviegoers will be perplexed about his identity. Say hello to pop star Han Geng, a former boy bander and actor. * Who was in the elevator: As our heroes attempt to flee evil CIA operatives in an alley, they receive the unlikely assistance of some random butt-kicking dude hanging out in a lift. You might not recognize him, but his hero moment is bound to go over big in Beijing. Meet Zou Shiming, China’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist boxer. Category:Optimus Prime Category:Galvatron Category:Hound Category:Drift Category:Ratchet Category:Crosshairs Category:Lockdown Category:Brains Category:Comic Books in the Media Category:Comic Book Movies Category:IDW Comics Category:TRANSFORMERS Category:Transformers Age of Extinction Category:Dinobots Category:Decepticons Category:Autobots